Between her role as the star and titular character of Netflix’s “Addams Family” spin-off “Wednesday” and her role as Tara Carpenter in 2022’s “Scream” and 2023’s “Scream VI,” Jenna Ortega is one of the more recognizable faces in television and films. Ortega got her start as a Disney Channel star, having starred in both the Disney Channel original series “Stuck in the Middle” and the Disney Channel original animated series “Elena of Avalor.”
While she may be most well known for her Disney roles and her newer success in darker territory in both the “Scream” franchise and “Wednesday,” she popped up in a surprising number of odd cameos in television shows in the early 2010s. In 2012 she was credited simply as “Girl” in the short-lived Rob Schneider sitcom “Rob.” She played the vice president’s daughter, who the vice president turned traitor to help, in “Iron Man 3.” And in addition to those roles, another one of her first on-screen appearances came in a role in “CSI: NY,” one which had little screen time, but was quite important.
Jenna Ortega played the victim in an episode of CSI: NYCBS/YouTubeIn Season 9, the final season, of “CSI: NY,” in an episode called “Unspoken,” Jenna Ortega played the unfortunate victim of an accidental shooting. In the episode, a shooter goes to a large rally and attempts to shoot the school superintendent, and then abandons his gun in a dumpster. Two children fish the gun out of the dumpster and the tragic end seems almost inevitable as a young boy shoots his friend, Aimee. Aimee is identified in the dialogue as Aimee DeSilva, however, there’s no such person listed in the episode’s credits. Both the credits and IMDb list Ortega as having played Aimee Moore. No other actor is credited as an Aimee or even an Amy, so presumably, the character of Aimee was considered such an unimportant plot device that nobody could remember her last name.
Now that Ortega is the star of the huge Netflix hit, “Wednesday,” it’s unlikely that anyone will forget her characters’ names again. As for how she’s settled into the role of Wednesday, Ortega told Netflix’s Tudum that it was fun because of how different of a character Wednesday Addams is from her real self. “It was a very freeing, gratifying experience, because you don’t have to care,” the actor explained. If you’re in a bad mood, and you have a stink face, it doesn’t matter. She sticks to her guns, and she’s not out to please anybody. Which, as someone who used to be an immense people pleaser, I really respect.” Thus, it seems like she’s finally getting roles that she can sink her teeth into, and is glad to be done paying her dues as the victim on a procedural.
